Pauline Liu: Local schoolkids say principals with pistols would be a scary sight

When a school district in Ohio voted last month to allow all four of its custodians to carry handguns, I held myself back from going on a rant.

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By Pauline Liu

recordonline.com

By Pauline Liu

Posted Feb. 18, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Pauline Liu

Posted Feb. 18, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

When a school district in Ohio voted last month to allow all four of its custodians to carry handguns, I held myself back from going on a rant.

"What will they think of next?" I wondered. Well, now I have my answer.

Last week, a school district in Colorado decided it wants not only a pistol-packing principal, but an armed district superintendent, too.

Other districts are considering jumping on the bandwagon, including one in New Jersey.

In Texas, where the lieutenant governor already has called for free gun training for teachers, state lawmakers are now discussing a bill to offer teenagers gun training as a high school elective.

More guns.

In the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shootings in which 20 children and six adult staff members were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December, the heated discussions about whether to put more firepower in schools show no sign of letting up.

I understand why the school district in Ohio wants its janitors to pack heat. They know the ins and outs of every building. In Newtown, the custodian was a hero for running through the hallways into classrooms to warn teachers and students to duck for cover.

The gun lobby has been critical of New York's new tougher gun law, and of other states now considering beefing up gun control. The gun lobby claim is that the new laws will only keep guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. So they continue to push to put more guns in schools, in the name of increased school safety.

Even with proper training, more guns may not be the answer. Columbine High School, for instance, had an armed guard on duty when 13 students were killed in 1999.

Locally, students have told me they would find the idea of pistol-packing principals and janitors very unnerving.

How is that supposed to make children feel safe in school? Do middle-aged school district employees have the agility and coordination to run down the hallway and defend our children with their school-district-funded handguns?

Some people are simply born with the hand and eye coordination to be crack shots.

Maybe that's why the exploits of famous gunfighters of the Old West became the stuff of legend. Wild Bill Hickok may have been the most skilled gunfighter of them all; yet he was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1876 at age 39.

It seems as though some school districts are forgetting about the possibility of human error.

Let the trained professionals do their jobs: School resource officers who are armed cops that patrol some school districts makes sense. Proposals are being considered to hire retired cops, as well.

Surveillance cameras and buzzer systems also are important to school security.

But please — keep guns out of the classroom and away from our children.